Startup with "spidersilk" for drug delivery raises $7M

Martinsried, Germany-based AMSilk, a startup commercializing materials based on spider silk for multiple industries, has raised about $7 million in a Series B round of financing, according to the company. The deal announcement comes shortly after the publication of a study showing how the firm's "spidersilk" could be used in drug delivery.

The investors in the second-round financing included AT Newtec and funds managed by MIG Verwaltungs AG. Both investors are located in Munich, not far from AMSilk's office in Martinsried. Axel Leimer, managing partner of AMSilk, said in a statement that both investors have supported the startup since its formation in 2008.

The company's materials are made of copies of proteins from web-weaving spiders and are intended to be strong and compatible with living systems. The firm, a spin-off from the Technische Universität München, says that a recent paper in Biomaterials shows that its materials are efficient vehicles for drug delivery.

While it might be too early to say whether the firm's materials hold lots of promise in the drug delivery field, it's worth taking a look at the study in Biomaterials. Of course, there are mountains to climb in order to prove that such materials are safe and effective for delivering drugs in humans.

- download AMSilk's release from its website
- read the abstract from Biomaterials